September SinC-Up

Not my usual Friday fare as you can see.

I'm a member of Sisters in Crime (SinC) and heard about this fun blogging event from the national headquarters. Throughout the month of September bloggers will be doing a SinC-Up, and I decided to participate. The guidelines are simple, so if you would like to join in, write a blog post responding to one or more of the questions below, and at the end of the post, link to another author who blogs and who you think your readers will want to get to know. (Letting that blogger know would be a good idea, too!) Bloggers do not have to be members of Sisters in Crime to participate, and there is no sign-up or schedule to follow.

Here are some questions to choose from:

• Which authors have inspired you?
• Which male authors write great women characters? Which female authors write great male characters?
• If someone said "Nothing against women writers, but all of my favorite crime fiction authors happen to be men," how would you respond?
• What's the best part of the writing process for you? What's the most challenging?
• Do you listen to music while writing? What's on your playlist?
• What books are on your nightstand right now?
• If you were to mentor a new writer, what would you tell her about the writing business?

You don't need to answer them all - just whichever takes your fancy. We want this to be fun! And if you would rather not explain the process for joining the September SinC-Up in your post, you may link to www.sistersincrime.org/bloghop which covers it all.

If you do, please mention and link to Sisters in Crime in your post. So that participants' posts can be publicized through our social media channels, we ask that you tweet your link using the hashtag #SinC-up or #SinCBlogHop and include @SINCnational (if you are on Twitter), or email webmaven@sistersincrime.org directly with your link (if you are not on Twitter).

Okay that's the set up, and I am going to link to an author I have gotten to know online. Nancy J. Cohen writes the Bad Hair Day cozy mystery series that features an amateur sleuth. She also writes paranormal romances with a bit of sci-fi or fantasy thrown into the mix. I know books that have elements of several genres are popular among readers, so you might enjoy those. I'm not so fond of mixing like that, but I have enjoyed her cozy mysteries.

Now to answer some of the questions:

Which male authors write great women characters?  I think Craig Johnson does a terrific job with his female characters. I have loved the tough Victoria "Vic" Moretti in the books and the television series, "Longmire". While she has all the feminine qualities that show a bit of a soft side to her character, she is kick-ass tough and believable as a strong woman in law enforcement.

If someone said "Nothing against women writers, but all of my favorite crime fiction authors happen to be men," how would you respond? How many women crime writers have you read? There are a whole bunch of us who can hold our own against the guys, and sometimes women who write using a pen name that sounds masculine are mistaken for a man. When my mystery, Doubletake, was first published under the pen name Sutton Miller, a reviewer complimented Mr. Miller on a terrific thriller. Margaret Sutton and I appreciated the irony of that. 

What's the best part of the writing process for you? What's the most challenging? The best part of the writing process is when the characters are driving the story, and I am just along for the ride - and the typing. That creative highway is such a blast. The most challenging part of writing is the business side. There are very few writers I know who enjoy the marketing and promoting, and those who say they do? Well, I hate to say this about my friends, but I think they are lying just to appear all with it and all that.

What books are on my nightstand? Actually I have a stuffed rabbit and often a live cat on my nightstand so there is little room for anything else. The books waiting for me to read are on the desk in the bedroom or loaded into my Kindle. Yes, I do read quite a bit on the Kindle, especially books for review here on my blog. So, right now I'm reading Sarnia by Hilary Ford, a Victorian-era woman's novel. Interestingly enough, the author is really Sam Youd, so he is another male writer who can create believable women characters. On the desk is The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, which has been waiting since July for me to make time for it; Silent Prey by John Sandford, and Killer Heat by Linda Fairstein.
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I'm heading out today to go to Tyler for the East Texas Book Fest.  Check it out on Saturday if you live near Tyler. Lots of events for the whole family to enjoy, and a good time to pick up gifts for readers. There is nothing I treasure more than an autographed book.

Review of Hell Is Empty by Craig Johnson

No, you haven't lost an entire week, nor have I forgotten what day of the week this is, but instead of my usual Friday's Odds and Ends, I am doing something different today. It started when Yolanda Renee notified me that she had some reviews of my stories over at her blog, Defending The Pen. Of course I had to go see what she had to say about my short stories and one of my mysteries. What a thrill it was to see how much she liked Stalking Season, the second book in the Seasons Series of mysteries.

It was also neat to discover a regular blog hop, The Cephalopod Coffeehouse, started by The Armchair Squid that features book reviews. Not just any old review, but a review of the best book you read in the past month. This feature runs every month on the last Friday, and it is a great way to share the best of what you have been reading.  If you would like to join the blog hop, just click HERE for the link! 

My offering for the day is Hell is Empty by Craig Johnson.

This is book seven in the series that features Wyoming sheriff, Walt Longmire. I first met this character in The Dark Horse  and knew I had found another favorite character who has his own way of finding justice. I was thrilled when "Longmire" started as a series on television. It can be seen every Monday on the A&E cable channel. 

In  Hell is Empty,  Longmire is pitted against the elements as he struggles to capture an escaped convict. Craig Johnson is a master at setting a goal and then throwing obstacle after obstacle in the path of the protagonist, and Walt is battered by the wind and blinding snow in a blizzard and nearly frozen in the sub-zero temperatures. Some of the description was so strong, I wanted to get a warm blanket for myself.

Like a previous story in the Longmire series, Walt is up on the Bighorn Mountains where the lines between reality and delusion fade as his body struggles to survive the challenges of the weather and his relentless pursuit of justice. This is all presented in a narrative that is literary in style and thoroughly engaging. 

Part of the delusion in this story revolves around Virgil White Buffalo, who saves Walt on several occasions, but then it is not clear who was the savior and who was being saved. Virgil is a terrific character, a huge bear of a man, who is book smart and nature smart.

I enjoyed so much about this story, especially the connection to Dante's Inferno and the powerful depiction of the landscape and nature of this part of the west in the winter. The story is frightening in places, but the tension is eased with the trademark Longmire wit.

If you don't join the blog hop, please do leave a comment and let me know what terrific book you read this month. And if you have not already, do that author a favor and post a review on Amazon and Goodreads.

Holiday Gifts for Readers

 Last year, my wish list for the holidays included several book and I thought I would share them here on the blog for people who might want a suggestion for a book to get for someone in their family.

On the top of my list was The Dark Horse, by Craig Johnson, now out in paperback. My husband said I only wanted the book because it had "horse" in the title, but that is not true. I had read a review of the book in The Dallas Morning News and was intrigued by the reference to the book being "a literary mystery."

I was not disappointed. This is a wonderful book, with narrative so vivid and rhythmic I found myself pausing to savor a phrase or a sentence. The character of Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire stands counter to stereotype, and his wit elicited many a chuckle.

This is the fifth mystery to feature Walt Longmire (after 2008's Another Man's Moccasins). He is a man who is more interested in the truth than the letter of the law, and he has his doubts about Mary Barsad's guilt when she confesses to shooting her husband, Wade, after Wade allegedly burned down their barn with all Mary's horses inside. Even though the crime is out of his jurisdiction in a neighboring county, Walt can't shake the feeling that there's more to Mary's story. He isn't above a little trickery as he poses as an insurance agent to do some off-the-record investigating.

The story takes place in the small town of Absalom, whose main attraction are the fights at the local bar. There Walt meets an illegal immigrant bartender with a knack for crime solving, the Barsads' loyal cowhand and some ranchers who may have had their own reasons for wanting Wade dead. 

I highly recommend this book for mystery lovers, horse lovers, and readers who like a lot of  layers to a story and the characters.

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I am a guest at Margaret West's blog today, sharing an unusual Christmas tradition at the Miller household. Look for the glass of mulled wine on the site and you will find the POST

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FTC Disclaimer:  This book was purchased and given to me as a gift. Other than having such an enjoyable book to read, I have not benefited in any way from this review.

Book Review: The Dark Horse by Craig Johnson

It’s always a delight to find a new author whose work makes you want to read more and more. That is the case for me with Craig Johnson. I received his latest book The Dark Horse for a birthday present, and once I started reading it, I could hardly put it down. And this is another book that will have a permanent home on my bookshelf.

Being a horse lover, I was intrigued by the title and the cover when I read a review of the book in the Dallas Morning News. The story is set in Wyoming, home of Sheriff Walt Longmire, who was first introduced in Cold Dish and has appeared in three other novels before The Dark Horse.

In this latest story, Walt investigates what looks like a clear-cut murder case, but becomes increasingly complicated. Mary Barsad confessed to killing her husband, Wade, after he set fire to their barn and killed all Mary’s horses. The crime is out of Wade’s jurisdiction in a neighboring county, but he can’t help thinking there is more to the crime than what Mary said. He poses as an insurance agent and goes to the small town of Absalom, where the main attraction is the fights at the local bar, to investigate. That investigation has him digging deep into the history of that forsaken town and unearthing secrets that would have been better left alone.

There is much to enjoy in reading this book: the characters who are well-defined and engaging, the twists of the plot that keep you guessing, the atmosphere of “old west” that permeates the setting, and some of the best narrative I’ve read in a long time.

Here is just a sample: “One strike of lightening followed another in succession and I felt the tingling of intimidation in being the tallest point on the big mesa; then I slipped a boot into the stirrup and made myself taller.”

Johnson has received both critical and popular praise for his novels The Cold Dish and Death Without Company with starred reviews in Kirkus and Booklist. Both novels were named Booksense selections by the Independant Booksellers Association and Killer Picks by the Independant Mystery Bookseller's Association . As a Penguin paperback, The Cold Dish had a six-week run on the Barnes & Noble top-fifty best-selling mystery list, and made the Booksense Paperback Summer Pick List of 2006.

Wow. No wonder I was so impressed with the book. And now I have to start this great series from book one.

# Hardcover: 336 pages
# Publisher: Viking Adult (May 28, 2009)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0670020877
# ISBN-13: 978-0670020874